Age of Sigmar and the Fear of Change

On July 22, 2015July 21, 2015 By James CastroIn Games, Opinions2 Comments

This past month Games Workshop tore down the Old World and built in its place the Age of Sigmar. The venerable old fantasy game as we all knew and loved died, replaced by something a bit different and a bit less complex.

During the End Times range lots of fans got excited about the fresh content and the progress of the world. Let’s face it the old world had terrific lore and amazing depth but was based in the typical world of fantasy dwarfs, elves, ogres environment. Which isn’t bad, it’s classic for a reason, and certainly the old world took it to new places, but clearly the market was speaking against fantasy.

To start with I never intended to get involved with fantasy, but I ended up loving it. All the complex movement reminded me of Napoleonic warfare, with wheeling and marching. The battle resolution took some time to get used to but made for some close fights and satisfying combat even when on the losing end. But in a world where 40k rules the table, fantasy has a heavy bar of entrance. Especially when the number of models used to play it is factored in compared to GW’s sci-fi flagship.

So GW tore it down. And replaced it with Age of Sigmar a new game built on the remnants of the old world but infused with new rules and a new, faster, more simplistic game play style. I’ll start by saying I haven’t played an AoS game, just watched them being played. And then viewed the rabid hate from fans on forums and comments. And I have to say…I really don’t get it.

Before End Times what I saw the most on fantasy comments was a desire for updated rules. Even from Tomb King and High Elf players. Hell I started with Skaven and Beastmen, we’re still in softcover books with the Bretonnians! I saw a lot of complaints about balance, how it was broken, some factions were useless, some were absurdly overpowered. The convoluted systems and complex special rules. So many people begging for a revamp of the game. So GW completely revamps everything about the game and the comments are worse than ever before. It’s a game for kids, the new special rules have proven how stupid it is, it’s far too simple and far too dumbed down…

Age of Sigmar is a HUGE gamble. I’m currently building and painting Ultramarines so I can’t invest in the new factions…but here’s the thing… If I wanted to play AoS with my Skaven or Beastmen or Ogres I could. For free. All the army books have rules. The basic rules are posted. All on the site. All in PDF. All free. Strangely I’ve heard very little positive about that (maybe I’m visiting the wrong sites…) but there they are. I’ve already dl’d every ruleset I might ever want (and Queek is there!) in case I want to bust into the game at any time. But it’s accessible. That in itself is a big change for GW who has recently been pretty litigious about it’s IPs, which probably has more than a little to do with the world/faction reset in general.

At it’s heart I have a feeling that those who hate GW do so because it’s popular to do so. Like all those people who announced they were boycotting Modern Warfare 2 then turned around and pre-ordered it, a lot of fans just like to complain. A company could give an individual everything they asked for and a part of the population will claim the company is pandering. I have no love for, nor feel the need to defend a multi-million dollar company. It’s more a desire for fans to act like fans and less like entitled kids. Especially when, in my experience, the GW company has been pretty good to work with. When my subscriptions had problems a simple email contact got new issues FEDEXED to me overnight. And they still sent the back issues they missed after the fact. When one of my kits (Marneus Calgar and Honour Guard, purchased at an independent retailer no less) was missing a part, they sent a replacement, and let me keep the duplicate parts (which included the champion figure); and when an accidental duplicate Sgt Harker was sent instead of Castellan Creed they Fed Exed the right figure and let me keep the dupe. Yes one could say that that’s actually three mistakes the company has made over the past 6 years of Warhammering, but I’d assert that is WAY more cooperation I’ve ever gotten from Microsoft, Sony, and god help me Comcast and I’ve had way more problems with them over that same timeframe.

Furthermore this is a game company. That makes a series of rules for fighting tiny battles with toy soldiers. Reading the goofier AoS rules I can’t help but feel a spirit of fun is being injected into Warhammer. Like a lot of board games, they are incorporating fully optional systems that allow a player to made a fool of themselves, give their mates a chuckle, and get a couple of bonuses if they act out, or dare I say role play, some of their characters. That’s NOT a bad thing. If players think it is that may be taking their toy soldiering a bit too seriously.

warhammer-aos-ogre-kingdoms-en_Page_03 — Do you see this? You can try to bribe your opponent. With anything! Yes. That’s silly and yes it’s in the name of fun.

More than anything I’m the kind who doesn’t want to hate change because it’s change. The rules may be simpler and the battles smaller, but the biggest complaints about fantasy have been they cost barrier to entry and the difficult rules. It also seems these rules permit a scaling up, if you want to bigger battles. AND most importantly, no one from Nottingham came around to all our houses and took out WFB 8th edition books away. That’s right, you can still play your favorite version to your hearts content.

Once I have some cash I’d like to invest in AoS just to see the new factions. The models look like a bridge between 40k and fantasy, probably to lure the die hard sci-fi gamers who think fantasy is too la-dee-da for them. The factions are interesting to say the least (ogres “ogors” with orcs or “orrucks” whatever, yes please) and the new system is different from anything I’ve played so far.

So once again I think it works to appeal for calm and maybe focus more on the positives. Less game snobbery the better (let’s face it, we’re model wargamers…it’s a stretch to say that a slightly different kind of model wargame is “beneath” us). More inclusiveness the better. If you like the system, good for you enjoy. If you don’t, fine enjoy the games you do like. But let’s see where this goes, maybe it’ll be like New Coke and will result in an amazing return of the old world. Maybe it’ll supplant 40k in popularity (I doubt it but it is possible). Let’s not fear change, and let’s not hate those who adapt to it faster than we do. We’re gamers so I say we game. Tabletop games are special this way, as once you have them you can play them forever. Remember: no one can kill the games you love except for you!

Game Room Update: The Fortress of Arrogance

On June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random FunLeave a comment

When I moved in to my new place last year one of the things I was most excited about was setting up my new game room. With a home-made 6×4 table and a wolrd of board games and 40k to play, I couldn’t wait to put up decor and set up my hobby room. I never thought of naming it until I shared with my RevPub partner my WIP of Commissar Yarrick’s legendary Tank, The Fortress of Arrogance.

I learned of this mighty armored vehicle from Chains of Golgotha and immediately loved the name. I knew when I started my guard army (built almost ENTIRELY from rage quitters and scrap and a couple of boxed sets admittedly) a version of Yarrick’s pulpit would have to be included. Here’s my version:

When I shared this she commented that it would be a good name for my game space, and I started work on a sign that night that mimicked the “official” markings on the tank as it appears in the Apocalypse expansion. Here’s what I’ll print for my door:

Fortress Of Arrogance — Built from some Skull line art, and some simple Illustrator work it captures enough of the original and still makes a good readable sign for the door!

As for the Fortress itself it’s progressed a bit. I was able to get my fantasy armies out of boxes with the addition of the two new inexpensive glass curios, and even added some shelves for the Blood Angels/Flesh Tearers that used to be crammed into the bottom shelf of my IG curio (a couple of chaos engines too big for my storage boxes are up there too.)

As I get things painted (which I’m working on now, my Vostroyan command squad is up first) I’ll share them. As can easily be seen I have a lot to paint, but I like to build and play, so painting always seems to take a back seat!

Un-Mastering Luck: My First Warhammer Fantasy Battles Games

On March 4, 2015March 4, 2015 By James CastroIn Games, Random FunLeave a comment

Napoleon once said that genius was the mastering of luck. Anyone who plays miniature wargames knows just how difficult mastering luck is…

I played my first Warhammer Fantasy Battles games over the past weekend and saw just how difficult luck really is to master. As I said in the last post I prepared a small ogre army for an escalation league at my local Games Workshop store. I’d never before played Fantasy except for a few little games using the store sets of Island of Blood that weren’t designed to be competitive. My Games Workshop store is surprisingly fresh. A lot of new players are there so it was nice to go in to this without some of the more negative kinds of players (or the know-it-all, “hurr hurr, look at the noob” types) and it was a really positive experience. I invited friends to come watch me lose and I thought I’d share the experience.

I showed up on a Friday night and only a couple people were there. The other player present was also new, and he brought his Skaven army. The store manager got his rule book out and we played our tiny 250 point game. I used 8 ogres in two 4-group units, all with additional hand weapons. This put me at 248 points and lots of attacks. My opponent took a big block of clanrats with shields and spears, and two bases of rat swarms. He went first (whew….brought them closer into my charge range!) and I did as expected and charged right into those clanrats. Ogres on a charge are brutal, impact hits, sixteen attacks, and four stomps. It was a close round of combat but the ogres won through the weight of their charge. Because of his “strength in numbers” special rule he had a mighty leadership TEN. Now I should say I have a history and tendency to roll like crap (you’ll see that in my battle the next day) but I think my lack of luck was catching. He rolled two sixes! Failing his leadership test. He then proceeded to run away 5 inches. I chose to pursue, rolling a six, catching and eliminating the only viable unit on the field. I definitely did NOT out play him in my first game. With only 250 points very few tactical choices are there. But through pure luck the first game was a win. And a nice intro to the game mechanics.

I then played the manager’s dark elves, him playing as an NPC. Though I smashed his witches (even though I’d received their crazy charge) but ran into a wall on his executioners. I did enough damage on them that even he said he got a bit nervous, but all their elf rules did me in.

The next day I returned for his zombie tarpit challenge. 80 zombies versus my 250 points of ogres. I chose to make one big unit and smashed into the zombies. I ended up taking them out in 5 turns, but only had three ogres left by the end. I realized I would have been smarter to leave them in two units, hitting the zombies on their flank with the second group. I would have had one extra attack per ogre. Four extra impact hits (at least…I COULD have rolled a 10+ on my charge) and four additional stomps. It may have been over in 3 turns…

Later that day I played a kid who had dwarves. A unit of warriors and a unit of longbeards. I needed an 8 to make my first charge against the warriors…and rolled two TWOS. So I received the charge instead. I made my charge against his longbeards, and surprisingly crushed them into flight. Here’s where I made tactical errors. There was only one longbeard left, his standard bearer. I chose to run them down, which I shouldn’t have done. I ran them down and moved 9 inches away from my beleaguered other unit. My other unit of ogres, having lost the combat with the dwarf warriors and fleeing, fled an epic 11 inches. Then failed their next leadership by rolling a TEN. My epic bad rolling coming to light again. His dwarf warriors turned to my unbroken unit and I chose to march them up a hill rather than reform. I really should’ve reformed, as his next turn would’ve brought them easily into charge range and probably a quick combat after all the impacts, attacks, and stomps. Since I moved them away, they had their backs to his dwarves and received a flank charge. Despite this I still killed four dwarves and received zero wounds.

Unfortunately for me, due to combat resolution math, we tied and his musician broke the tie. Once again I failed my leadership test (because I’m awesome like that) and fled only to be caught and destroyed! Him won a clean victory. All my dice throwing proving just how little of luck I had mastered… my inexperience and the good thinking of my opponents proving to be a deciding factor.

It was a blast to play, win or lose, and I learned some good lessons.

1) Ogres…don’t forget your fear check. I never had anyone roll for fear ever. It’s a long shot against elves or dwarves but better to try than not to try.

2) Don’t forget impact his and stomps. Even with only four ogres in the rank that’s at least four impact hits (D3 per ogre due to the ogre charge rule if you roll a natural 10+) and stomps are four additional attacks.

3) Ogres are attacking beasts and can soak up lots of damage. Even at speed six it’s best to try to get the ogres back into combat as soon as possible. Maneuvering with Skaven or Beastmen might be a good choice, but with just three ogres it is always best to try and get them back into doing damage. It’s what they do best!

I’ve heard that GW is planning to drastically change the landscape of Warhammer Fantasy Battles due to its flagging sales. Just getting into it now, this makes me quite sad. I love the complex simplicity of it. The small rules that turn into big results, and the great fun of throwing gobs of dice and taking off scores of models. As much as I love 40k, it’s a very different kind of wargame and I’m hoping, no matter the changes they make, the game play will always be welcome on gaming tables.

Warhammer Rescues: Taurox the Brass Bull

On June 12, 2014June 11, 2014 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random FunLeave a comment

Games Workshop has a reputation for occasionally making rules with no models. I’ve actually seen some complaints on this and it’s a trend they seem to be moving away from, however I feel that the spirit of this concept was to allow players and hobbyists to create their own versions of the character or unit in question using existing models as bases or even scratch building pieces.

I have a big Skaven army I got practically new on the sprue and Skaven remain my favorite fantasy battles army, however, I was able to get my hands on a great Beastmen army, in various stages of construction, last year and started to mess around with them a bit too. Though they seem to be one of the least popular choices, their personality appealed to me and this force came with lots of models and options, some of which are hard to find now.

One piece I got was an incomplete pewter Doombull.

It was a bare metal piece with no arms, weapon, or decorations I thought would be fun to convert into one of the Beastmen lords with no model, Taurox the Brass Bull.

I used the rune-inscribed axes from the minotaur kit to make his “Rune Tortured Axes.”

His shoulder guards are actually vambraces from the Cygor/Ghorgon kit I didn’t use. Because his body is metallic I got a chance to play with the Nihilic Oxide technical paint I’ve been wanting to try and gave his armor and ancient, oxidized tone to make it stand out from the copper-gold used on the rest of the model.

I originally had a severed hand as base décor, but decided for someone as massive and vicious as Taurox that would never do… Using a Lord of the Rings Elf horseman archer, I cut his legs off and sculpted some guts out of green stuff. The head comes from a Skaven Stormvermin sprue (it was two heads clutched in a fangleader’s claws, I simply cut one off) and sculpted some hair out of more green stuff. Painting the guts was layers of Biel Tan Green, Carroburg Crimson, and Nurgle’s Rot to give it the slimy, transparent sheen.

Just to use the rest of the technical paints I hadn’t played with I used Agrellan Earth for the base.

I hope GW keeps the rules without models in the army books and codexes for years to come. Creating your own versions are some of the most fun a hobbyist can have. You’ll never see two Tauroxes that look the same!

Check out my previous painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

Dark Angels Standard Bearer

Dark Angels Librarian

Warhammer 40k Scenery

40k Rescue: Blood Angels Land Raider

And for more 40k my Kharn illustration posts! Part 1 and Part 2. And my fond farewell to the World of Battle.

Warhammer Rescues: Blood Angels Land Raider

On May 14, 2014May 13, 2014 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random FunLeave a comment

Warhammer Rescue Projects

No one would ever think Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, or any miniatures game is cheap. In fact a lot of board/table top games are pretty pricey (take a look at Fantasy Flight, Steve Jackson, or Fireside Games…they’re pretty high for what’s in the box…) but they usually don’t require maintenance or additions or new pieces. It basically comes down to how you want to spend your hobby money. Do you want to spend $500 on a new video game console, plus $60-$70 for new games to support it, or $500 on a playable starter army and $60-$70 on new units? I’ve preferred the latter recently. But it’s not always easy to shell out $69 plus shipping and taxes for a new unit. Especially when, with a little work, you can get a similar or identical unit for far less! You find them on eBay. They usually consist of damaged, incomplete, or poorly painted models. With the copious bits provided by GW with their sets (Deathwing set for example, it makes Deathwing Terminators, Deathwing Knights, or Deathwing Command squad, so you get a lot of extras) you can take a damaged model or one missing parts, add the extras, and make some nice custom pieces. I’ve found all it takes is some patience, a hobby blade, a toothbrush, and some LAs Totally Awesome cleanser and just about any model can be recovered.

Blood Angels Land Raider

This lander raider was sold as a “needs love” project. Boy was that an understatement. It was originally a chaos land raider and I considered using it as one, however the idea of deep striking one of these things with my lil Blood Angels army was too tempting.

Original Condition:

It was a situation where you wonder who originally bought a $75 model and then didn’t seem to look at the instructions. The top hull was glued on top of the side hulls leaving awful gap clearly visible on the top. Also the side sponsons were glued on upside down.

The entire piece was so heavily glued it took over an hour with a very sharp hobby knife to get it all apart and, yes, some of it was damaged so badly it was impossible to make it look “as good as new.”

It got an overnight bath in LA’s Totally Awesome cleaner (seriously, it’s about $3 for a big bottle, soak overnight, it strips ANY paint off of metal, plastic, resin, without damaging the model. Just warm water and a toothbrush.) then reglued correctly.

After Reassembly and Priming:

I made my retail land raider in the “Crusader” variant due to its high-troop transport capacity, so I had all the “Redeemer” variant bits available. I moved the sponsons up, added some pieces of off a Baal Predator I had left over, and some various other parts from additional Space Marine vehicles. Upon reassembly I had to take some liberties and change the basics of the model. For example the sponson optics were broken and gone so I replaced them with spotlights. I wanted assault cannons rather than heavy bolters so I clipped the barrels off of two extras from my Ravenwin upgrade sprues and glued them to the heavy bolters it came with. There was a gap over the frag launchers I filled with standard poles from a Gors unit. I also had to glued the front door closed as the original hinge was glued to the hull and had to be broken to disassemble it.

Work in Progress:

As I said it was impossible to hide the damage to the model so I “hung a lantern on it” as it were. I wrote it into the story of the model, as though it’s a chapter relic and has been through serious wars, has received awful damage, but the might of the vehicle keeps it going. This was especially true on the left side of the model where the awful over-gluing left major plastic damage to the unit. You can see where I used some corrosion to make it appear as though it is battle damaged.

I used copious amounts of Typhus corrosion and some Forge World weathering powder to show the wear on the sides and the front door.

Nearly Finished Rescue Model:

There are some other little touches I’d like to add but I think it’s pretty table ready now. There are still some gaps that need filling and additional details I’d like to include but it’s worlds from where it started.

Is it the best Land Raider out there? Not by far… but for less than half price of the retail version and made with other additional parts I consider it a salvation of this vehicle’s machine spirit. It may not be perfect…but I think the priests of Mars would approve…

Check out my previous painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

Dark Angels Standard Bearer

Dark Angels Librarian

Warhammer 40k Scenery

And for more 40k my Kharn illustration posts! Part 1 and Part 2. And my fond farewell to the World of Battle.

Off the Top of My Head: Painting 40k Scenery

On April 9, 2014April 9, 2014 By James CastroIn Art, Games, Random FunLeave a comment

Wrahammer 40k and Citadel Scenery Painting

Official TableTop Day has come and gone but those of us who play table top games every day can be a table top day. 40k isn’t usually thought of in the same realm as “table top games” even though it truly is. I consider it almost a “table top lifestyle” as it really starts to seep into your thinking and, for an artist, your aesthetic.

Painting canvas isn’t something I do well or enjoy, unlike my RevPub Player 2, but I do love to paint models. and as I said in my Nazdreg post I love to create bases. One of my other favorite things to paint is scenery. Games Workshop/Citadel release some great-looking scenery for 40k. I love the little details and terrain pieces, especially rubble and ruins, and it’s fun to try to test some painting techniques on them.

These are from the Urban Barricades set and I painted them last year. With some of the new technical paints out now I’d like to maybe add some new touches to them, but I think they came out pretty well, at least well enough to be table ready!

I love this one with the Space Marine bike.

All the little skeletons and pieces are great small details.

This one with the door and unexploded ordinance is also wonderfully detailed. I like the bullet holes, battle damage, and debris in these pieces.

Over the holidays Citadel released some new technical paints that got me pretty excited. Yes I’m lame enough to get excited over technical paints, but I like to paint, I have a lot of fun with scenery, and I’ve been waiting for these kinds of paints to be available.

One of my favorite scenery pieces is the “battlescape” piece with the dead trees, craters, and the wrecked Rhino, complete with combat damage and customizable doors.

The base was basic Mournfang Brown then dry brushed with Longbeard Grey and Praxeti White.

The trees were the most difficult actually, I started with more Mournfang, dry brushed Praxeti, shaded with Biel-Tan Green, and glazed with Waywatcher Green.

The Rhino I painted in Macragge Blue, then used the Typhus Corrosion + Ryza Rust combination shown in the technical paints video released late last year. I also used some Forge World rust weathering powder to give the impression of the rust running off into the terrain.

The craters I plan to add some water effect mixed with some combination of Moot Green and Skavenblight Dinge to make a murky green with a bit of oil. I’ve got an extra arm from an Ungor kit and some extra chaos bits so it’s not just the imperium showing the damage in this piece 😉

Once the piece is completely finished (I’m still testing the water effect…) I’ll post an update!

Check out my previous painting posts for more!

Black Reach

Dredtrukk

Warboss with Attack Squig

Boss Zagstruk

Stormboy Nob on Flying Base

Bad Moons Nazdreg

Dark Angels Dreadnought

Dark Angels Standard Bearer

Dark Angels Librarian

And for more 40k my Kharn illustration posts! Part 1 and Part 2. And my fond farewell to the World of Battle.